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Monday, February 27, 2012

St. Baldrick's - 11 days!

So the countdown is to 11 days now.  We have official confirmation of the shaving event at the Hospital.  It will take place Friday, March 9, from noon - 3:00.  I can't wait for this special event.  It will be great to have the patients and families involved this year.  It will remind me why I started doing this in the first place.  I don't begrudge A.J. Rocco's their event, but I am not a bar person at the best of times.  But shaving your head in an exceptionally narrow bar in downtown Cleveland ON St. Patrick's Day is not my idea of fun.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have it done in a family-friendly environment again.

So, here are the stats:

-St. Baldrick's is the largest non-government entity giving money to childhood cancer research.
-Last year, they gave over $21 million in research grants
-Since 2005, the annual amount of grants given has gone from over $12 million to over $21 million!
-A.J. Rocco's has been doing shaving events for 10 years.  In those 10 years, they have raised more than $1.5 million for St. Baldrick's (including the side events like ours at the Hospital this year).
-More than $1 million in research grants has been given to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in those 10 years (the Children's Hospital at University Hospitals in Cleveland).
-One of the labs that has benefitted from those grants is our colleague, Dr. Alex Huang's, lab.
-Since I joined the Rainbow Babies & Children's team, we have raised over $40,000 for St. Baldricks.
-I have personally raised over $800 in the three years I have been doing this.

But so much more needs to be done and only you can make the difference.  Even a gift of $1.00 can make a difference.  So, please, give from your heart!

To donate, click the following link: http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/516321/2012.  Once there, click on the Make a Donation button under my picture.  That will allow you to make a donation by credit/debit card.  If you prefer to make a cash donation, send me an email at csafoodie@gmail.com.  I can go ahead and make your donation for you and you just send me a check (I am very trusting, so please, do not take advantage of me) or send the payment by PayPal.  Please help us make this an extra special event this year!!!!!

Bariatric Update - Paperwork received

So, the good news this morning is that my paperwork has finally been received by Medical Mutual and I have a case number.  Now I just wait for the decision.  She told me that the paperwork was received Friday, Feb 24.  So, it makes me wonder what happened to the other 3 copies of the paperwork. One was sent by mail and the other two were faxed with confirmation.  I am just grateful that they finally have it.  I just hope they don't take another week to make a decision.  And I hope that the decision is to go forward.  I live in fear that they are going to deny me the coverage.  They really could.  I don't have diabetes or heart disease, so anything is possible.  I just hope not probable!

Friday, February 24, 2012

Bariatric Update

The drama continues on my attempts to get a surgery date.  My paperwork has now been sent to a 3rd fax number at Medical Mutual because they cannot locate the file.  I am to the point where I want to ask if I need to physically carry the file over to them and put it in their hands!  But since it seems to always get lost in "imaging", I am not sure that would help.  The insurance coordinator told me today that he is now pissed to which I said, good, then I will do my best to just remain frustrated.  No sense in both of us being pissed off.  He said he's hopeful that we will get an answer by the end of next week.  So, we shall see.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Jambalaya

It's that time of year again: Mardi Gras! Today at Murray Hill Market, I found a beautiful andouille sausage. What better to make jambalaya with to celebrate Mardi Gras? I always make my jambalaya in the rice cooker. Fuzzy logic is a wonderful thing!

 Rice Cooker Jambalaya
  •  2 cups shredded chicken*
  •  1/2 pound andouille sausage
  •  2 cups brown rice, uncooked
  •  4 cups water (or stock)
  •  24 oz crushed tomatoes
  •  1 cup salsa (CaJohns Trinidad salsa*)
  •  1 cup frozen sweet corn*
  •  1 cup baby peas
 Place all ingredients into bowl of rice cooker; mix well. Set to porridge and press Cook. Serving is 1 1/2 cups.



 * CSA Ingredients 

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Spelt Flour

The other nice thing about Fresh Fork Market is that we get grains and flour from local producers as well. I have white wheat flour, cornmeal and spelt flour to choose from. Today I decided it's time to try my hand at yeast bread again. The last time I made yeast bread, I had a breadmaker. Unfortunately, it broke down 2 moves ago, so now I have to make it myself. Fortunately, my brother sold me a Kitchenaid stand mixer about a year ago. I used a recipe for spelt bread that normally be made in a breadmaker, because they are so simple. It's rising for the second time as I write and looks like it may work out just fine, so here's the recipe.

Spelt Bread
  • 1 1/4 cup skim milk*
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 4 cups spelt flour*
  • 2 1/2 tsp yeast
Place all ingredients in large mixer bowl. Mix with dough hook, adding water if necessary, until proper texture. Transfer dough to a greased bowl. Spray with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until doubled in a warm place. Preheat oven to 350° F. Punch dough down, form into a loaf and place in greased loaf pan. Allow to rise then bake 30-40 minutes until browned and done. Cool on a rack.


 *CSA ingredients  

Chicken

I do love to get whole chickens from my CSA. If you've never gotten a whole free-range chicken before, I suggest you give one a try. You will never go back to grocery store chickens again. As always, I cooked this chicken in the crockpot and am now making chicken stock with the skin and bones. I found a recipe that had a great blend of spices.

 Sticky Chicken in Crockpot
 Adapted from: www.newlyweds.blog.com/2008/09/26/sticky-chicken-in-crock-pot 
  • 2 tsp salt
  •  1 tsp cayenne pepper
  •  2 tsp Paprika
  •  2 tsp garlic powder
  •  1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
  •  1 tsp fresh ground pepper
  •  1 large roasting chicken*
  •  1 large onion*, chopped
 In a small bowl combine seasonings.

 Remove giblets from chicken , clean cavity well and pat dry with a paper towel.

 Rub the spice mixture into the chicken , both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin.

 Add onions to bottom of crock and chicken cavity.

 Place chicken breast-side down in Crockpot. Cover and cook 8-10 hours on Low.

 To make stock:

 Remove chicken from Crockpot and cool. Remove meat from bones and return skin and bones to Crockpot. Add 8 cups water, cover and cook 8-10 hours on Low. Cool, strain, and freeze for later use.


*CSA ingredients

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Sweet Potatoes

Let me start by saying I never really liked sweet vegetables. What I've figured out over the years is that I didn't like winter squash or sweet potatoes because everyone insisted on making them even sweeter. For some reason, both could only be served with brown sugar and/or marshmallows. Well, in my opinion, these vegetables are sweet enough on their own, and even better when prepared in a savory manner. We have gotten a lot of sweet potatoes in the past few weeks. So, today, I decided to treat myself.

 Baked Sweet Potato Fries
  •  1 medium sweet potato*
  •  2 tsp olive oil
  •  cayenne pepper
  •  garlic powder 
  • salt 
 Preheat oven to 450°F.

 Wash sweet potato and slice 1/4 inch thick. Cut slices into 1/4 inch sticks. Drizzle with olive oil and sprikle with cayenne, garlic and salt. Spread in a single layer on a prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, turning once, until crisp. Cool on papers towels 5-10 minutes before serving.





*CSA ingredients

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Bariatric lessons

So, once you have gotten yourself through all of the hoops that are required to ask for approval to have bariatric surgery, you then have to get through the biggest hurdle: getting approval from your insurance company.  I would imagine that if you are diabetic or have heart disease, this is an easier hoop to get through, but I have a new lesson to blog about.  I am generally a very trusting person.  I generally give people the benefit of the doubt.  However, if you are standoffish to me or fake in the way you are being "helpful," I will become a little suspicious and take things into my own hands.  You may not like that, but I am a highly educated person whose first career was in the business world, and back in the day, you had to DO your job to keep it and/or get paid for it.  Apparently, that is no longer the case.

As I said, I tend to give people the benefit of doubt.  So, when they insurance coordinator told me that it usually takes 11-20 days to get a response back from the insurance company, I gave him the benefit of doubt and waited 15 days before I called for an update.  His response to me was "I will call you as soon as I know something.  But you are welcome to call me if you feel the need." in a sort of standoffish way.  I don't like being treated that way, especially after 5 years here at Case.  So, I decided to take a look and logged onto my account with the insurance company (in case you don't know, you can generally monitor activity on your health insurance through the internet these days).  When I logged on, the only claim that showed up was for the psych evaluation.  I noticed that you could do a live chat with a customer service rep, so I decided to ask.  They informed me that they had not received the paperwork to start the approval process.  "You will need to contact your doctor to let them know it never arrived."  Now, because I still want to give everyone the benefit of doubt, I then asked if it was possible that it was in process and just hadn't been recorded on my account (does someone have to put it in line and then once a decision is made it gets recorded?).  The rep told me that because it most likely would have been mailed in (I found out later that it was 26 pages so, yes, it most likely was mailed), they would have immediately put a note in my file to indicate that they had received it.  They had no such note.  So, no, it was not in process somewhere.

I immediately called the insurance coordinator back (around 3:30pm) and got his voice mail.  Now, you have to know that every time I have tried to call this guy in the afternoon, he has 1) not been available (I get voicemail) and 2) he never returns my call (I have to call him the next day).  I called three times before 5pm and never got him.  The next morning, I tried to call at 8:30 and still got his voice mail.  So I thought, well maybe he's returning calls and will call me back.  Okay, I understand that at any one time, he is juggling 200 files in various stages of completeness, but really, he can't return my call within 4 working hours of my leaving a message?  At 10am, I finally called him back again and he seemed surprised to hear from me.  I informed him about my conversation with the insurance company.  He told me "well, maybe it's in process and they haven't recorded it yet.  But I will call and find out."  I went onto explain that I did ask that question because I didn't want to have to bother him, but they assured me there should have been some sort of note that they had received it.  He thanked me for calling and said he would get on it.  My frustration here is now, how long do I wait before I follow up again.  Is he mailing it again?  Or would have have found a way to fax it to them? 

I guess my point here is, don't assume that people are doing their jobs.  Now, I have no reason to believe that he didn't send out the paperwork.  However, I do have to wonder why (because certainly mine is the first that got lost somewhere between him and the insurance company, could it?) he hadn't followed up before then.  When I send things by mail or fax, I ask for comfirmation of receipt.  Nobody does, but if I don't hear something back within a reasonable period of time, I call.  This comes from having been a tax accountant and knowing that if people didn't get the forms I sent, it could cost my clients and/or company a lot of money in penalties and fees.  It's just continued frustration because my life is basically on hold until this decision is made.  I just want to know when the surgery is going to be (if it IS going to be) so I can then have a timeframe for recovery, etc.  The experiments I do are time sensitive and I cannot plan major ones until I know when I will be out for 2 weeks!  I don't think it's too much to ask that people do their jobs and stay on top of things so I am not in limbo forever!

Monday, February 13, 2012

St Baldrick's Update

A couple weeks ago, I posted a blog about my participation in St. Baldrick's.  This is an organization that raises money for childhood cancer research.  In conjunction to that (and as an incentive to get people to give money), we shave our heads around St. Paddy's Day in solidarity with kids who have cancer.  The first year I participated, I cannot tell you how overwhelmed I was watching children getting their heads shaved to make things better for their siblings who had cancer.  I had thought to do it because "it was the right thing to do" and I was donating my hair to locks of love anyway.  But in the end, these kids melted my heart and made me realize how great a cause this really is!

This year, we have even more exciting news.  We decided last year that it would be great to do a side shaving event (still within the A.J. Rocco's group) here at University Hospitals.  I just found out that they have, indeed, set aside the Atrium in the hospital for our event.  This means that we can bring the kids we are doing this for to the event and they can see what we are doing for them and join in the fun!  I cannot wait to see the looks on their faces as they watch their doctors and residents getting their heads shaved.  It should be a joyous event! 

So, I am redoubling my efforts.  I have raised $155 so far.  I need $345 to make my goal.  But it would be even better if I could manage to raise even more.  The money this organization raises helps fund research to find treatments and cures for these kids.  It has even affected this area through grants to our colleague's lab.  in the last 2 years, our team, Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital has raised over $40,000.  Lets try to double that this year and really make an impact for these kids!!!!!!!

And just so you can see where I have been through these events, here are before and after shots for 2010 and 2011:






2010 Before and after:


















2011 Before and after:

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Super Bowl, CSA Style

Two things about this Super Bowl: First, it's just me this year, so I'm going light on the food. Second, does anyone care about this matchup, really? My friends at work do a pool that I have benefitted quite nicely from for the last 3 years. So, there is my reason for watching: to see if I win anything again.

 That said, you do kind of have to make something to enjoy during the game. This year, I had everything I needed to make spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage. And since I did that and had a pizza crust in my freezer (from the CSA, of course), I decided on sausage mushroom pizza. Here, I must add a shootout to Clark Pope. If you'll remember, we got Berkshire ribs in the last share and I prepared them in the oven using BBQ sauce from Clark Pope. Today, I used another of his products, roasted cherry tomatoes in fig oil. I have used these before, in an eggplant and roasted pepper (also a Clark Pope product) sauce. I cannot express just how much I like these products. It makes me happy that I will continue with the summer CSA, so I can, hopefully, enjoy more of these wonderful products!

Crockpot Italian Sausage Sauce
  • 2 jars Roasted cherry tomatoes in fig oil*
  • 1 (28-oz) can whole plum tomatoes
  • 1 medium yellow onion,* diced 
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lb Italian sausage
Heat olive oil in a medium skillet. Add onions and saute until onions are translucent.Transfer to Crockpot. Add remaining ingredients and cook, covered, 6-8 hours on Low.

Superbowl Sausage Mushroom Pizza
  • 1 ball seasoned pizza dough*
  • 1/4 cup sauce (see above)
  • 1 Italian sausage link* sliced
  • 1 (4-oz) can sliced Mushrooms
  • 4 oz fresh mozzarella*
Preheat oven to 450°F. Stretch dough to a 12-inch circle.Spoon sauce into center of dough and spread, leaving a 1/4-inch margin. Distribute sausage and mushrooms evenly over pizza. Sprinkle with mozzarella.Ideally, bake directly on a pizza stone for a crisp crust. Alternatively, bake on a prepared pizza sheet. Crust will be softer. Bake 10-12 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly.

* CSA ingredients